A Word A Day — Orwellian

with Anu Garg
Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Orwellian

(or-WEL-ee-uhn)

adjective: Of or relating to a totalitarian state in which citizens’ activities are tightly controlled.

After George Orwell, pen name of Eric Blair (1903-1950), whose novel Nineteen Eighty-Four depicted a futuristic totalitarian state. Also see Big Brother.

“Military satellites designed to guide nuclear missiles are being used to monitor prison parolees and probationers in a technological advance designed to reduce the nation’s skyrocketing prison population. But critics say it also raises the specter of an Orwellian future.”
Gary Fields; Satellite ‘Big Brother’ Eyes Parolees; USA Today; Apr 8, 1999.

“The [remote deletion by Amazon of Orwell’s books from customers’ ebook devices] prompted widespread criticism from Amazon customers, rights advocates, and bloggers, on whom the Orwellian nature of Amazon’s actions were not lost.”
Thomas Claburn; Amazon Settles Kindle Deletion Lawsuit For $150,000; InformationWeek (New York); Oct 2, 2009.

Explore “orwellian” in the Visual Thesaurus.

We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. -Richard Dawkins, biologist and author (b. 1941)